L'hôtel De Carantec

Terrible service. Disintegrating pillows. The restaurant prioritises bookings from non-hotel guests so there is no point staying at the hotel if the restaurant is your primary goal. We booked this hotel for our anniversary as it was one out of three hotels with Michelin star restaurants in Bretagne that is within 1 hour drive of our family holiday beach house. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon between 3-4 PM and were greeted with a completely empty establishment. There was no staff present on site, however we saw our name on post-it notes with a key so we grabbed one. We went to the back to admire the view of the ocean from the restaurant next to the lobby, and walked back to the car to pick up our luggage. Upon entering the lobby again, we were rudely accosted by a female staff in her 40-50s who shouted at us to approach the desk at once and announce ourselves. We told her that we saw our names on the post it and took our key, and upon without any ID check - she just gave us our keys to a room we never proved was ours. We could have been anyone. We then asked if we could eat at the restaurant that evening as every time we called the hotel in the past 2 weeks there was no answer. She said that's not possible. Our relatives in France (and our experience on previous travels) mentioned that it would be standard procedure to allow hotel guests a reservation spot at the restaurant in the establishment. She told us she'll try and call the chef and let us know later. We went to our room and freshened up and waited for her call/ notification for a couple of hours. Dinner time starts to loom and we have no certainty on whether we need to make an alternative booking elsewhere. We decided to pop down and ask her how this went. She wasn't at the lobby but we managed to find her in the kitchen of the restaurant area. We asked what the chef said - and she just shrugged her shoulders and said "no clue, the chef didn't pick up his phone." At this point, it started to dawn on us that our trip to Carantec might have been for nothing after all. She tried calling him again and then told us to wait in the garden outside overlooking the beach. The scenery was lovely - but not any more special than any other coastline views in other parts of Bretagne. After waiting for 30 minutes, we thought maybe she forgot about us again - so we went back inside and asked. She did. She has since moved on to pottering about other things (there were no other guests present at this point, so she wasn't exactly busy dealing with other guests). She then said the chef has arrived and went to speak to him and after some discussion in French they said no. We had to wait 2.5 hours for a no - and by this point dinner time was fast approaching so we had to make an alternative booking in a small town with limited choices. Thankfully we did! And had the best time at a local restaurant with lovely modern dishes. We were just astounded by how rude and unhelpful the staff was. When we came back to the hotel we noticed that all of the guests at the restaurant were not staying at the hotel. So there really is no point or perk in staying at this hotel if you're mainly there for the restaurant. The room itself was small, but with great views of the coast. That said the pillows were so poor they must have been from the 1990s. Each pillow was disintegrating completely and was clumpy with bits here and there. The next day upon check out, a different staff member told us we haven't paid - when we have paid for it all online under Hotels.com. She called them to confirm and apologised to us. She then said we should have left a credit card detail upon check-in, but at no point was this asked from us by the rude staff from the previous afternoon. So after paying a small amount for city tax we left this awful establishment. Definitely will not be going back. Will not be recommending this place to anyone else either.

The restaurant and the evening tasting menu at 79 euros are very good. The value for money is good. The wines are a little expensive but very good and we received good advice. Only one criticism at this level is the waiters who are too present especially to constantly serve water. On the other hand, the rooms must be renovated from October 2023. Fortunately because if the view is truly extraordinary the room is at the level of a 2 star, however the price is not. The staff is well informed so I am perplexed by the fact that the hotel has been able to maintain its 4 stars and especially by the price of the night not including breakfast at 19 euros 50 but still really excellent and complete.

Excellent dinner last night. 6-course menu, excellent wine advice from the sommelier with a very reasonable St Aubin 2020, and a very high quality meal. Each ingredient, often local, is succulent and the blends are clear and tasty. Special mention for the rhubarb dessert and the fromage blanc and exotic pepper sauce on the tuna. Smiling and attentive service. Thank you for this very beautiful evening.

Terrible service. Disintegrating pillows. The restaurant prioritises bookings from non-hotel guests so there is no point staying at the hotel if the restaurant is your primary goal. We booked this hotel for our anniversary as it was one out of three hotels with Michelin star restaurants in Bretagne that is within 1 hour drive of our family holiday beach house. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon between 3-4 PM and were greeted with a completely empty establishment. There was no staff present on site, however we saw our name on post-it notes with a key so we grabbed one. We went to the back to admire the view of the ocean from the restaurant next to the lobby, and walked back to the car to pick up our luggage. Upon entering the lobby again, we were rudely accosted by a female staff in her 40-50s who shouted at us to approach the desk at once and announce ourselves. We told her that we saw our names on the post it and took our key, and upon without any ID check - she just gave us our keys to a room we never proved was ours. We could have been anyone. We then asked if we could eat at the restaurant that evening as every time we called the hotel in the past 2 weeks there was no answer. She said that's not possible. Our relatives in France (and our experience on previous travels) mentioned that it would be standard procedure to allow hotel guests a reservation spot at the restaurant in the establishment. She told us she'll try and call the chef and let us know later. We went to our room and freshened up and waited for her call/ notification for a couple of hours. Dinner time starts to loom and we have no certainty on whether we need to make an alternative booking elsewhere. We decided to pop down and ask her how this went. She wasn't at the lobby but we managed to find her in the kitchen of the restaurant area. We asked what the chef said - and she just shrugged her shoulders and said "no clue, the chef didn't pick up his phone." At this point, it started to dawn on us that our trip to Carantec might have been for nothing after all. She tried calling him again and then told us to wait in the garden outside overlooking the beach. The scenery was lovely - but not any more special than any other coastline views in other parts of Bretagne. After waiting for 30 minutes, we thought maybe she forgot about us again - so we went back inside and asked. She did. She has since moved on to pottering about other things (there were no other guests present at this point, so she wasn't exactly busy dealing with other guests). She then said the chef has arrived and went to speak to him and after some discussion in French they said no. We had to wait 2.5 hours for a no - and by this point dinner time was fast approaching so we had to make an alternative booking in a small town with limited choices. Thankfully we did! And had the best time at a local restaurant with lovely modern dishes. We were just astounded by how rude and unhelpful the staff was. When we came back to the hotel we noticed that all of the guests at the restaurant were not staying at the hotel. So there really is no point or perk in staying at this hotel if you're mainly there for the restaurant. The room itself was small, but with great views of the coast. That said the pillows were so poor they must have been from the 1990s. Each pillow was disintegrating completely and was clumpy with bits here and there. The next day upon check out, a different staff member told us we haven't paid - when we have paid for it all online under Hotels.com. She called them to confirm and apologised to us. She then said we should have left a credit card detail upon check-in, but at no point was this asked from us by the rude staff from the previous afternoon. So after paying a small amount for city tax we left this awful establishment. Definitely will not be going back. Will not be recommending this place to anyone else either.